Women, Power, and Politics: A Rising Tide?

Maria Hinojosa, award-winning broadcast journalist and senior correspondent at NOW on PBS joins us for a special screening of her latest documentary, Women, Power and Politics: A Rising Tide?

Women, Power and Politics explores the influence and potential of women leaders at home and abroad, and strives to answer the question “What does it mean to be a woman in power?” The documentary features conversations with prominent women leaders who share their compelling stories and reflect on what it means to negotiate and succeed in the political sphere. The documentary features President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, the first woman in Latin America who did not have a husband precede her as president, and Senator-elect Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the first woman in U.S. history to be elected as both Governor and U.S. Senator. The documentary tells the story of courageous Rwandan women who now claim a near majority in the country’s parliament more than a decade after the genocide that claimed nearly one million lives, and this film also follows the dreams of ambitious New York City high school girls as they compete in a high-stakes debate tournament.

Reflecting on the documentary and her hopes for the piece, Ms. Hinojosa noted that “during my interviews with a new generation of female politicians — in the U.S., in Chile, in Rwanda, and elsewhere — it became increasingly clear what they seemed to have in common. They did not want power for power's sake, but to enact policies that would directly improve the lives of other women. And they were doing it.” The documentary and discussion with Ms. Hinojosa that follows will extend the in meaningful ways the discussion of gender and power, politics and governance that have been a steady part of our 2008-2009 Body Politic[s] series.